


Child of the Moon

by Fyre



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Canon Rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-08
Updated: 2013-05-08
Packaged: 2017-12-10 20:10:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/789673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fyre/pseuds/Fyre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is my take on how Child of the Moon should have gone. </p><p>The Henry, Gold, and Regina scenes remain, because really, I liked them a lot, but the rest... well, let's just say I've tinkered.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Child of the Moon

**Author's Note:**

> I have a horrible, horrible suspicion that I'm going to end up re-writing the whole of S2 to have canon consistency. Same plotlines, more steady characterisation, less confusion, that kind of thing. Well... it's a hobby.

Ruby could feel the moon rising, even when she was shut up in the refrigerator. 

It was an impossible sensation to describe to someone who wasn’t cursed as she was: the flicker in her blood, the way her heartbeat picked up, and the combination of fear, dread, and the wild that sang through her. She didn’t need to see the moon to feel the effects of it, the way all her senses came alive, the craving to run, to turn her head to the sky and to howl into the night.

She paced in a circle, drawing breath after steadying breath. 

It hurt.

It always hurt.

How could it not?

Ruby braced her hand against the wall. It was hours since the refrigerator had been turned off, but the chill ran through her like ice in her veins. She was too hot, and it was so cold. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes.

She knew in the old world she’d learned to control it, but this was another time, another place, and a lifetime had gone by without the need to hold back, or to struggle against the animal that wanted to be free.

She breathed deep and tried to remember how to be, remembering how she had first learned what she was.

 

______________________________________

 

 

There was blood on her clothing, blood in her hair.

Red didn’t know where they were going or what they were doing. All she knew was that Snow was holding her hand as tight as she could and they were running, running into the woods, into the cold and the wilds and leaving her grandmother and Peter…

A sob caught in Red’s throat and she tried to shake Snow’s hand off hers.

“You have to let me go!”

Snow shook her head, looking at her, pale in the moonlight, show whirling around them in the wind. “I’m not leaving you.”

“I’m a killer!”

“You’re my friend!” Snow replied, grasping at her hands. “Red, I can’t leave you. You didn’t do this. The wolf did! It’s not you! You can fight it!”

Red shook her head. Her tears felt hot on her face. “I can’t,” she whispered. “I can’t. Grandmother was right. I need my cloak. I’m a monster without it.” She looked around the woods, with no idea how far they had come. “Y-you need to find safety.”

“I’m safer with you than with anyone,” Snow said, holding her hands tightly. “You would never hurt me.”

Red doubled over, as if she had been stabbed right through the heart. “I would never hurt Peter,” she gasped out. “But I did. I did, Snow. I can’t help it. I can’t.” She pushed the other girl back, shaking, and crumpled to her knees. “Please. Please go.”

“No.” Snow was kneeling in front of her, catching her by the arms. “No, Red. You’re my friend and you have your cloak. We’re safest together. I can watch out for you and you can watch out for me.”

Red stared at her. “You’d protect a monster?”

Snow took her by the shoulders. “I’d protect my friend.” She looked up as the snow started falling more heavily around them. “We need to find shelter.” She squeezed Red’s shoulders. “I think there are caves ahead. Can you walk?”

Red didn’t know, but somehow, she ended up on her feet, with Snow’s arm around her, under her cloak, and together, they made their way into the forest, the gusting snow covering their tracks.

 

_____________________________________________

The snap of a tree branch woke her, and the smell was all wrong.

Wild flowers and moss and dirt and fresh water, flowing somewhere nearby.

Ruby’s eyes snapped open, her heart pounding. Dappled sunlight filtered through the trees above her and she sat bolt upright. There were leaves and twigs in her hair. Her dress was muddied and moss-stained. She wasn’t anywhere near town. 

She’d got out.

She was outside, which meant she’d broken free from her makeshift cage and run loose.

“There!”

She swung around, relieved and mortified to see her grandmother heading towards her, crossbow in one hand. David was following close behind her.

Ruby scrambled to her feet, looking around wildly.

“Did I hurt anyone?” she demanded, backing away from them. She couldn’t taste blood, but that didn’t mean anything anymore.

“You don’t remember?” David’s expression tensed.

Ruby put a shaking hand to her forehead. “I-I don’t think so,” she said. “I remember being in the refrigerator and then…” She shook her head. “I don’t remember anything until I woke up here.” She looked pleadingly at her grandmother. “The door was solid. I couldn’t have got out of it.”

Her grandmother shifted the weight of her crossbow. “You forget how strong you are, Red,” she said quietly. “The door was torn off its hinges.”

Ruby remembered the terror like it was yesterday: the moment of finding out what she was, what she was capable of, and what she had done. All of it. It was coming back, thick and fast, and she remembered blood on snow, bright against the pristine white.

“Oh God,” she whispered. She looked up at them, from one to the other. “Did I do anything?”

David held up his hands soothingly. “All we know is that you got out,” he said. “Nothing more than that.” His cell buzzed, and he lifted it from his belt. “Sheriff.” He frowned, then nodded. “Okay. Be right there.”

Ruby shifted from one foot to the other anxiously. “What is it?”

“Double-parking,” David said, replacing his phone at his belt. “You wouldn’t believe the things people around here complain about.” He smiled at her. “You get back to town and get some rest, okay? We’ll find a way to keep you in tonight. If we have to, I’ll go to Gold.”

“He doesn’t know where my cloak is,” Ruby reminded him, as they headed back towards the path.

“No,” her grandmother agreed, “but he might be able to do something about making another one, now we know you can’t control it.”

Ruby stopped short. “He could make another one?”

“He made the first one,” her grandmother said, waving a hand dismissively. “Cost a pretty penny, but he made it.”

Ruby stared at her. “You never told me.”

Her grandmother looked back at her, her expression grave. “Sometimes, we do what we have to, to make things right.”

 

_____________________________________________

 

 

Red could hear the crackle of a fire nearby.

She scrambled up, looking around wildly.

A cave. A large cave. Through the brush obscuring the entrance, she could see faint daylight, but she didn’t recognise the place. It wasn’t where she’d told Snow they would meet. 

They had been travelling for weeks together, but they were being chased. Not just by the men of the village, who were still trying to find the wolf, but Snow’s enemies as well. The Queen had hunting parties coming after them.

One of the soldiers had torn her cloak, and even though they had escaped, and even though they had tried to repair it as best they could, Red didn’t want to risk her friend’s life, not with wolfs time so close. 

Snow had insisted that she knew the forest well, and she could find somewhere to hide, and with that assurance, Red had run deeper into the woods to find somewhere to hide herself, as the change came over her. 

She couldn’t remember finding a cave. She definitely couldn’t remember setting a fire.

“Snow?” she called cautiously, getting to her feet. Her legs were stiff, aching, as if she had run a thousand miles in the night.

“Keep your voice down.”

Red shrank back at the man’s voice. 

He broke away from the shadows, clad in black and almost invisible. He was dressed in the uniform of the Queen’s guards.

Red backed away from him. “Don’t come near me.”

He remained where he was, his hands resting loosely by his sides. She couldn’t make out his face in the flickering firelight. “Your friend is safe,” he said quietly. His voice was low, gentle, not what she expected. It had to be a trap. “She went north.”

“Really?” Red said, edging sideways, wondering if she would be able to make it as far as the cave entrance before he skewered her with a sword.

“Really.” He held up his hands, taking a slow step towards her. “You should stay here. There are others out there, people who are obedient and loyal and who like their coin more than they care about a girl’s innocence.” 

Red pressed back against the wall. “You’re wearing her uniform.”

He looked down at himself, as if he had forgotten, one hand pressing to his chest as if his heart was hurting. “I am,” he said. He lifted his head, and pulled the helmet off. The man beneath was young, with unruly dark hair and a grave expression. “But not by choice.”

Outside, there were shouts and the sound of horses pounding by.

The soldier in front of her put his finger to his lips.

Red felt like she was holding her breath, until the shouts faded and the hoof beats fell silent. Her legs were shaking beneath her and she slowly sank to sit on the floor of the cave. She looked up at the man. “What do you want?”

He crouched down by the fire, looking at her across the flames. “I don’t want Snow White to be captured,” he said. “I want you to keep her safe.”

She watched him warily. “Why trust me? I could hurt her too. I’m a dangerous animal.”

The man smiled, and his stern features softened. “No, you’re not,” he said. “You’re a wolf.”

 

 

__________________________________________________

 

 

“Morning, Ruby!”

Ruby jumped at Belle’s voice. She’d slipped out of the inn the moment she knew her grandmother was gone, and headed towards the Sheriff’s station, but she hadn’t expected anyone else to be up so early, especially not someone who would want to talk to her.

The library doors were propped open, probably to let some air into the musty halls, and Belle was crouched down to wedge a block of wood under one of the doors.

Ruby managed to smile, approaching her. “Hi,” she said. She nodded itno the library. “Starting early?”

Belle straightened up and dusted down her skirt. “I’m used to being up early,” she said. “I always have been in Storybrooke. Had a timetable to keep to and it kind of stuck.” She tilted her head. “Is something wrong? You look pale.”

Ruby hesitated, then smiled. “It’s nothing, really,” she said, wishing that Snow was around, who knew how bad it had been and knew just what to say to help. “Just issues from our old land creeping up on me.”

Belle looked down with a small, almost drawn smile and rubbed her right hand over her left wrist. “I think we all brought some of those with us,” she said. She released her wrist and reach out to touch Ruby’s arm. “If you need someone to talk to…”

Ruby drew back. It was true that nothing had been found yet, but for all she knew, she could have torn apart a family. “It’s… personal,” she said, wondering how to explain what she was to someone as sweet as Belle.

Belle nodded. “The offer stands,” she said with a small, self-deprecating smile. “You wouldn’t believe some of the issues I’ve seen in my time.” She glanced across the road, her expression going softer for a moment.

Ruby followed her gaze. How far down the scale, she wondered, did a werewolf come after the Dark One? 

She looked back at Belle, who was tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear. “I might take you up on that some time,” she said. “But I have to go just now.” She tried to smile, but it felt forced. “Enjoy your library.”

Belle smiled. “I plan to,” she said.

She disappeared back into the book-filled gloom, and Ruby hurried onwards, in the direction of the Sheriff’s station. There was one reason she was going and that was simple: the cage. It had bars and a lock and should be able to hold a wolf.

That was the only reason she went, but the moment she stepped across the threshold, a scent hit her, a scent she had almost forgotten.

Ruby staggered back, colliding with the doorframe.

The Queen’s huntsman.

The man who had saved her.

Of course.

Before Emma had come, this was his place. He was gone, she remembered with a whimper. They hadn’t had a chance to know one another in this world, not really, with or without the curse, but she remembered him. He was the one who taught her that she was no beast.

 

________________________________________________

 

 

“I’ve killed people.”

The man nodded, watching her with a calmness that she wished she felt. “Wolves do,” he said, “but only to protect what is theirs or to eat.” He prodded at the fire with a stick. “Humans kill for pleasure and for passion.”

Ruby pulled her knees up against her chest. “How do you know what wolves do?” she asked in a small voice.

"How do you think?"

Red pulled her cloak tight around her body, staring at him. If he knew what she was, it could only be one of two reasons: he'd heard about her or he recognised what she was because he knew what to look for. It was just what the Queen would want as a pet. "You're a wolf too?" she asked in a small voice.

"Not as you are," he said, propping his forearms on his knees. "You are a human who becomes a wolf. I'm a wolf who walks as a man." He glanced towards the opening of the cave, then back at her. "You fear what you are."

"Wouldn't you?" she said.

One side of his mouth turned up, an odd, sad smile. "I feared being a man," he said. "Men are cruel. Men kill. Men imprison and enslave. Men take what they want with no thought for others." He laced his fingers together. "The wolf is part of you, just as the man is part of me. It's not something you can hide from."

"I can stop it," Red protested, curling her fingers into her cloak.

"You can pretend it isn't there," the man said quietly. "That doesn't mean it's gone." He rose from the fire, hefting his helmet in his hand. "I have to report in. Stay here until twilight. I'll come back if I can. You'll be safe here."

Red glanced towards the entrance. "What about Snow?" she asked. "I thought you wanted her safe."

"She's safer than you are now," he said. "If the Queen knew where she was, she would have ordered me to finish the job.” He drew a breath, as if steeling himself. “I have to go for now. She’s calling on me. I'll be back at nightfall."

Red blanched. "You can't. I'm dangerous."

He gazed at her. "You only believe you are," he said, then replaced his helmet. He withdrew a small pack from his belt and tossed it to her. "I'll bring you more this evening. For now, stay warm and quiet."

Red picked up the pack cautiously, opening it. There was dried meat and a hunk of bread. "Why are you helping me?" she asked uncertainly.

"Because wolves protect one another," he said, before walking out of the cave.

 

 

______________________________________________________

 

"There you are!"

Ruby looked up through the bars. "I thought it was safer," she said quietly. Her grandmother approached the cell. She looked older than she had in years, pale and drawn. David was behind her and looked just as bad. Ruby rose from the bunk. "What is it?"

"Someone died," her grandmother said.

Ruby reached out to lean against the bars. Her legs were shaking. "Who?"

"Billy," David replied.

Ruby pressed her hand to her mouth, sinking down to sit on the bunk. He'd asked her out, only the night before, sweet, harmless little Billy. He was a mouse. Just a mouse. Harmless and helpless, not prey or enemy. She looked up through the bars. "Was it me?" she asked, her voice trembling. 

"We don't know that for sure," David said, but he looked grim. There was something about it that meant it could have been her.

Ruby looked at her grandmother. "Tell me."

Granny sank down to sit on the couch outside the cell. "He was torn in half," she said, meeting Ruby's eyes. She'd long since learned the wisdom of not keeping things from her granddaughter, no matter how painful it was. "It wasn't... neatly done. They took him to the morgue, and they'll be able to tell us more soon."

Ruby ran her hands over her face. She felt sick. "Was it quick, at least?"

Granny looked back at David, who shook his head.

"We can't be sure," he said. "There wasn't as much blood as you'd expect, so it could be he was dead before he was..." He trailed off helplessly. "Ruby, we have to keep an open mind. We don't know that you did this."

She looked up at him. "Who else would?" she challenged quietly. "We know I was loose last night. We don't know where I was. We know what I can be capable of, when I'm the wolf."

"You're not the only person who has a dark side," David said. "You might not even be the only wolf."

Ruby rubbed her hands together, wondering if he could really understand what she was. The wolf was just her animal side, with instincts and impulses. The wolf wasn't any darker than she was. Simpler. Stronger. Wilder. But no darker than a person could be. "I think I should stay here," she said. "Find out if it was me. If it was..." She fell silent, not sure what they could do. A cage was the best she could expect. The worst, she didn't even want to imagine. "Just find out what's happening."

David nodded, and her grandmother reached through the bars to touch her shoulder comfortingly.

"We'll set this right," she said.

Ruby looked down at her hands. 

Some things couldn't be set right. Not for Billy. Not for Peter.

She glanced towards the Sheriff’s office, where Graham once sat.

Not even for him.

 

 

_______________________________________

 

The sun was setting.

It had rained during the day, and the scent of it hung on the air. 

Red had crept close to the entrance of the cave, close enough to snatch a rain-spattered branch from a trailing vine and suck the moisture from the leaves. She didn't dare venture outside. She heard soldiers passing more than once, shouts and curses exchanged, and kept to the back of the cave as much as she could. 

She heard footfalls approaching as the sky shaded in bloody red, and hid herself in the shadows.

It was with both relief and dismay that she recognised the man who had helped her.

"You're still here," he sounded surprised, almost pleased.

"I didn't know where else I could go," she admitted. Her hands were shaking. "Please. You need to go. The sun's setting. If I change, my cloak won't stop me hurting you."

He crossed the rough floor of the cave, to kneel in front of her. "No, it won't," he said, clasping his hands around her. She was too startled to pull away. His palms were warm, his fingers callused. "But you will."

She shook her head. "It's too strong."

He rocked back to sit on his heels. "That strength is yours," he said, gazing at her. "It's not something apart from you."

"But I don't want it to be," Red said plaintively. 

He shook his head. "We don't get that choice," he murmured. He released her hands and reached into a small pouch at his belt. "Here. Eat.”

“I’m not hungry,” she demurred, feeling sick to the pit of her stomach.

He didn’t withdraw his hand. “You remember what I told you?” he said. She stared at him in incomprehension. He gave the pouch a shake. “Wolves kill if they’re hungry or if they’re threatened. I don’t mean to threaten you, and I would prefer it if you weren’t hungry.”

Red reached out and took the pouch from him, opening it. The food was meagre, but it was more than she’d had in days. Hunger overrode the bitter sick feeling in her stomach, and she ate as quickly as she could.

The man sat back on his heels, watching her, silent.

“Did you mean it?” she asked finally, swallowing down the last of the meat. “That you’re protecting me because I’m a wolf?”

He nodded. “My pack is long gone,” he said. “You need to find yours.”

“I don’t have one,” Red said, looking down and brushing the crumbs off her skirt.

He smiled quietly. “You do,” he said. “I saw you with her. The Princess. You hid yourself away to protect her.” He rested his hands on his thighs, watching her. “That’s what a pack is.”

“She’s not a wolf,” Red murmured.

He shook his head. “No,” he agreed, “but in the eyes of men, I’m a man, but the wolves accepted me as kin.” He hesitated, then leaned forward, lifting his hand and touching her cheek lightly. “Blood doesn’t make a pack. Loyalty does.”

She stared at him. “You’re really going to stay, aren’t you? When I change?”

“The change is only the body,” he said, holding her eyes. “What you are inside doesn’t change. You are the wolf and the wolf is you. I am the wolf and the wolf is me. I can help you, so you don’t need to depend on a scrap of cursed cloth for protection.” His thumb grazed her cheekbone, and she could smell the wilds on him, even under the chain mail and the armour that was his cage. “Will you let me help you?”

Red’s hand trembled, but she lifted it to touch his, and she nodded.

 

____________________________________

 

The day was passing and there had been no word.

David was out, hunting for clues, and Granny was with him, leaving Red in her cage.

She hated cages.

She remembered too many years when she and her grandmother had bolted themselves into the house when wolfs’ time came. How she had remained oblivious for so long, she had never understood, but even now, bars and locks and walls felt smothering.

What made it worse was knowing that the bars probably wouldn’t even be enough.

She tried sitting, looking inward, trying to remember the change and how she had held onto both sides of herself when it took her. She tried meditating. She tried breathing calmly and steadily. In the end, she ended up pacing back and forth within the small confines of the cell.

The sun would be going down soon, she knew.

When they came back, she would ask them to get Rumpelstiltskin to ask him to make sure she couldn’t escape.

There would be a price. There always was. But anything was better than any more innocent people being harmed. No matter what the cost, she knew she would pay it to save the people in town from another massacre.

She would learn control again. That wasn’t in question. The fact was that she needed time. 

She spun around at the clatter of heels on the tiled floor.

“Belle?”

Belle hurried towards the cage, snatching the keys from the desk where Ruby had thrown them, out of reach. “We need to get you out of here,” she said, shoving the key into the lock.

“No!” Ruby reached through the bars and caught her wrist. “I have to stay here! I’m a danger to everyone just now.”

Belle looked up at her. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “David told me what happened to that poor guy.” She covered Ruby’s hand on her wrist. “Whatever killed him, it wasn’t a wolf. Wolves don’t kill for sport. They kill out of hunger or if they feel threatened.”

Ruby stared at her. “How do you know that?” she asked, shaken.

Belle smiled sheepishly. “Librarian,” she said. “I read a lot. Far too much, some would say.” She glanced over her shoulder towards the door. “I know it’s going to be sundown soon and I know you want to be locked away, but people are coming. They want to hurt you. I told them I saw you heading for the woods and David insisted on leading them to keep them away, but I don’t think they‘ll be fooled for long.”

Ruby shivered, remembering another time, another place, another hunt. “Where can I go?”

“Rumpel’ll help,” Belle said, turning the key and pulling the door open. “Once you’re safe, we can find who…” She froze, eyes widening. “Ruby, Rumpel said you found me by scent.”

Ruby nodded. “My senses are sharper now.”

Belle looked up at her. “What if you could track the person who really killed Billy?”

Ruby’s lips drew back from her teeth in a grin. “I think I could.”

Belle grabbed her by the hand. “This way,” she said, hurrying towards the door. 

They had to keep to the back streets, but Belle led the way to the docks. Even before she pointed out the crime scene, the scent of blood - metallic and thick with fear - hit her. Ruby swallowed hard, and forced herself closer.

They only had an hour before sundown, and if she was going to find the culprit, they would have to work fast.

Belle retreated back, giving her space to sniff out a scent.

It was difficult, with so much blood and the overpowering scent of fish and the sea. She caught traces of David and her grandmother, their emotions leaving a tangible flavour in the air, but she dug deeper, breathing hard.

“There,” she whispered. “I have it.”

Her eyes half-closed, she clung desperately to the scent, following it, ignoring the blood, the death, the fear, and focussing all her energy on that one scent. It was faint and so subtly familiar that she wanted to curse herself for not placing it. If she caught a stronger waft, she knew she would recognise it, but now, it was too faint, fading by the moment.

It led away from the docks, into the nicer part of town.

Ruby could hear Belle pattering after her, but the other woman knew better than to get in her way when she was tracking.

“Here,” she finally said, breathing heavily.

They were in front of a large house, but more especially, she had stopped by a car, sleek and silver, and she knew that whoever own the car was the one who had hurt Billy. Even without the scent she had picked up, she could see flecks of blood on the bumper. 

“We need to get into this car,” Ruby said, looking at Belle.

Belle looked at the vehicle, then back at her. She didn’t ask if Ruby was sure. She didn’t hesitate. She just bent down, picked up a rock, and smashed in the window. Ruby swore, expecting an alarm, but there was no sound but the tinkle of falling glass.

“Belle!”

Belle hefted the rock and smiled. “We have to be practical in cases of crime,” she said. She gestured to the car. “You wanted in. You’re in.”

Ruby shook her head in disbelief, then scrambled into the car to pop the trunk. “Remind me not to get in your way.”

Belle laughed. “Never underestimate the quiet ones.”

 

___________________________________________________

 

“Easy. Easy.”

The wolf bared her teeth, snarling.

The man was on his knees in front of her, his voice calm and soft, and his head down. He kept himself small, she noticed, and that was good. No threat. No shouting. No blades cutting at her fur. Good.

He smelled different, this one.

He smelled of hunter, but beneath it, there was something else, something familiar. Fur and hide and warmth and safe. She padded closer, sniffing at the top of his bowed head. He butted the top of his head gently against her muzzle and she growled again, low, but without baring her teeth. His motion was not a threat.

He made a soft sound, almost curious, and the wolf nudged her nose at his face, challenging.

The not-man, not-wolf lifted his head to look at her. His teeth were covered, and slowly, softly, he lifted a hand to her muzzle. It was not threat. It was offer. She watched him warily, then sniffed at his fingers, then licked.

“Good,” he whispered. “Think of who you are. Remember. You are the wolf. This is you too.”

The wolf lowered her head to nudge him in the middle of the chest, small not-wolf that he was, and he fell back with a small sound that meant he was not unhappy. She looked at him, and she knew his face. She knew he said words that meant something.

Remember.

Wolf.

This is you too.

Red scrambled back, startled. Four legs. Not two. She looked down at her forelegs. Paws. Fur. She keened, a low whining sound, in her throat, and looked up, frightened. She was seeing from an animal’s eyes. She was an animal.

The man, the hunter, sat up, his hands spread, passive, gentle. 

“Don’t fight it,” he said softly. “See. Be. This is you, little cub.”

She pawed at her face, whimpering, as if it would make it change, as if it could undo what could never be undone. She almost flinched when he reached out and touched her, one hand on her shivering side.

“Easy, cub,” he murmured, stroking a hand down her back. “Easy.”

She looked up at him imploringly, terrified, and to her shock, to her awe, he leaned closer and butted his brow to her.

“You’re a wolf, little sister,” he said softly. “You may be an animal, but you are no beast.” He raked his fingers through the fur of her neck. “Walk like a woman when the moon hides, but when the moon is full, you can be free.”

She stared at him, the not-wolf, but wolf that he was, and nuzzled her brow to his.

He smiled, and for a moment, he looked young, carefree, and he murmured softly, nonsense words, calming her, easing the fear in her. Red curled around him, staring at him with wide, amber eyes, wondering if it would be possible to remain so brave in the face of others who wouldn’t understand what she was. 

He talked softly to her, of his pack, of the places he had run, of hunting for food in the winter, of sleeping in the warmth of a den with his pack brothers and sisters. For the first time, she could believe that being a wolf could mean happiness, safety.

The first was burning low when the man gave a sharp cry.

Red’s head jerked up and she looked at him wildly. He was clawing at his chest, and looked up at her, terror in his eyes. 

“You have to run,” he gasped out. “She’s hunting your Snow. She knows where she is!”

Red scrambled up, whimpering, and nudged at his shoulder. He was fallen, her new brother, and she couldn’t help him. 

He pushed her muzzle away, shaking his head. “No,” he gasped out. “No. I have to stay. I have to obey, but you can run.” He sank his fingers into the fur of her throat. “Find her, little sister. Keep her safe for me. Protect your pack.”

Red keened, nuzzling her cheek along his. She would find him, if she could. She would find him and free him, but now, he was right. Snow needed her. Her own pack needed her.

She raced out into the night, lifting her head to howl at the moon.

From the cave, from the darkness, she heard his quieter, pained howl as she ran.

 

________________________________________________

 

They couldn’t miss the mob. 

It seemed kind of old-fashioned, but some of them were actually carrying torches and pitchforks as they stormed towards the Sheriff’s station. David was at the head of the crowd, trying to dissuade them, and they only stopped when Granny Lucas stepped out of the station doors, crossbow in her hands, and pointed it at the ringleader. 

“You’re not getting anywhere near my granddaughter, you hear me?”

“We’re here to put down a rabid animal.” 

Ruby didn’t need to be close to know who was speaking. His car had given her all the information she needed, and Belle was carrying the evidence, wrapped carefully in plastic bags.

“Ruby didn’t do this!” David added, leaping up the steps and raising his hands. “We don’t know it wasn’t something else.”

“Comforting, Sheriff Nolan,” their enemy sneered. King George. He’d always hated them, and of course, he would have tried to get rid of David’s only remaining allies. “So not only do you let a werewolf run wild, but you’re telling us you have a killer on the loose.”

“I wouldn’t say he’s on the loose,” Ruby called, quietly, but loudly enough for everyone in the crowd to hear her. They spun around, panic and terror on their faces, and she smiled, pushing back the hood of her cloak. They had found it - along with all the evidence they could have wanted - in King George’s car. “You were looking for me?”

There was a rush of whispers, and the crowd parted, backing away from her as she walked forward, her cloak trailing on the road.

They were afraid of her, and rightly so.

George Spencer raised a gun in his hand, pointing it straight at her. “Don’t move another step, man killer.”

Ruby stopped where she was and bared her teeth in something that wasn’t a smile. George had never fought on the frontline. He’d never seen what she could do. He hadn’t seen what she could survive. “You know I didn’t kill Billy,” she said.

“A beast like you is capable of anything,” he spat.

Behind him, her grandmother descended one step at a time, almost silent, but Ruby shook her head. “That’s your mistake, George,” she said, still smiling. “You assumed I’m a monster. I’m not a monster. I’m a wolf. We don’t kill like that. We kill for food and we kill to protect our own.” She lifted her hand to the ribbon of her cloak. “You want to test me?”

He stared at her in contempt. “You’re nothing but an animal,” he snorted.

“And you went to all this trouble just to put me down,” she replied evenly. “More than just an animal.” She jerked her head and Belle stepped alongside her, opening the bags, revealing the bloody axe. “Billy was just an animal to you too, wasn’t he? You used that and you hacked him to pieces, just to get to me. To get to us.”

George was pale, and David looked horrified. 

“What right do any of you have to lead this place?” George demanded, jabbing his gun in her direction. “None of you are Royals. None of you were born to this!”

“And I’m thankful for that every day,” Ruby said, a growl undercutting her voice. “Put down the gun.”

George’s eyes barely flickered, but it was enough and she jerked the cord of her cloak loose and threw herself in front of Belle, knocking her friend aside, as the retort echoed in the air. The bullet tore into Ruby’s flesh and she bared her teeth with a snarl, leaping before her grandmother could even pull the trigger of her crossbow.

There were screams as George went down beneath her full weight, the gun skittering from his hand. Ruby’s claws sank into his clothes. It would be easy, so easy to put down her head and tear out his throat, blood and gore, and her pack safe.

“Ruby!” David’s voice rang out. “No!”

Her lips were drawn back from her fangs, and hot strands of drool dripped down, her eyes blazing into his face.

She could kill him. He could be dead. No more threat.

“It’s enough, girl,” her grandmother said softly. “It’s enough. We’ll put him in a cage, keep him locked up.”

A cage.

Ruby nodded her shaggy head, swiping her claws through his fine suit, leaving stripes of blood on his flesh. She snorted, turning her back on him, and made a show of kicking dirt over him, then prowled back towards Belle, who was kneeling on the ground, her hands and knees grazed.

“I’m all right,” Belle said, her voice a little shaky. She hesitated, then held out her hand, and Red nuzzled her fingertips gently. She remembered another friend who trusted, another one of her pack. They would be friends, she knew, her Snow and her Belle, when Snow came back.

She looked back at King George, who was being shackled and led into the Sheriff’s station, and snorted again. Kings and Queens always seemed to do more harm than good. She would keep her pack safe from them, from all of them.

 

_________________________________________________

 

Red ran.

Two legs were fast, but four legs were faster.

She could smell Snow, even across the distance. The wind carried the scent, and she could smell the fear, and no one, no one, was taking any of her pack from her. Her new brother could not come with them, but she would save Snow and protect Snow. 

She heard barking up ahead and bared her teeth.

They had hunting dogs.

Weak little dogs, trained to bite and kill, and they were trying to find her Snow.

Red ran faster, long loping strides that swallowed up the ground, leaping over fallen logs and scrambling up ravines. She heard a scream and her fury rose. No one would take the one person who she could protect from her. Grandmother was far behind, but Snow needed her, needed her to be safe.

The barks of the dogs were closer, and Red leapt, crashing into their midst. They scattered in terror as she lashed at them with claws and fangs. Perhaps some fell. Perhaps they didn’t. They were trying to hurt what was hers, and she would not allow it.

The men who followed them screamed in panic, and Red threw back her head and howled, blood on her tongue and teeth and fur. They had weapons, weapons they turned on her, and she batted them aside. No metal, no wood, harmed her. They had no silver. Silver was the only thing that made her burn.

They fell, the men who kept her brother snared and trapped in armour and grief. 

More men appeared, and Red fought wildly, until the ground around her was littered, and her body was pricked with arrows. She was panting, mouth wet with blood, and looked up when a voice called out. 

“Stand down!” 

A woman was there, dark and smiling and thick with perfume. She was smiling a dark smile. She did not attack, but she watched from horseback, her eyes black as night, and she bared her teeth. She wanted to be a wolf, this one, Red realised. She dressed to lead, to dominate, but she was no wolf. She was a woman, and a human, and those could be the cruellest creatures of all. 

“Let the beast have the Princess if it wants. Let it tear her to pieces.”

Red’s lips curled back from her fangs and she growled.

She knew who the woman was, and she knew that even if she killed a thousand guards, magic would cut her down before she could reach the woman’s throat. She shifted her weight, watching, her teeth bared.

The Queen leaned down. “She won’t even be a mouthful to you,” she said to Red, as if they had anything in common, “but enjoy the taste of her blood.”

Red growled low in her throat, but turned and loped into the woods, leaving the bodies of her enemies scattered behind her. She ran as fast as she could, losing them in the dense trees, and doubled back to retrace Snow’s scent. It was thick with fear and tears.

Red circled in a small clearing, looking about.

“Red?” The faint whisper came from up a tree.

Red looked up. The Princess was huddled in the branches, shivering, and afraid. Afraid of the hunters, but afraid of her too. Red hesitated, walking in a circle on the grass, then curled down, propping her chin on her paws. She looked up at Snow, then lowered her head and curled her tail about herself. 

She couldn’t speak to tell her friend she was safe. Nor did she expect Snow to understand it.

She heard the scuffling of feet as Snow scrambled down from the tree, and raised her muzzle to look at the girl who was her family and her friend. Snow was pale and she was shaking, but she held out a trembling hand.

“Do you know me, Red?” she asked in a whisper. “Do you remember?”

Red rose, keeping herself as small as she could. She still towered over Snow, but she could keep herself smaller, less frightening, and she gently licked the tips of Snow’s fingers. Snow stared at her, then touched her fur, stroking her face, her muzzle, softly. 

“I knew you could do it,” she whispered.

Red nuzzled at her palm, and when Snow wrapped her arms around her, burying her face in Red’s fur, Red knew she would have wept if she could. 

The huntsman was right. She had her pack.

 

____________________________________________

 

 

“Where are we going?”

Ruby led Belle through the gates of the cemetery. “I want to introduce you to someone,” she said. She was carrying a bunch of wild plants from the forest. Not flowers. Not for a wolf. She had collected the herbs and brush by hand in the early hours of the morning, when she turned back to her more usual form. 

It was the scent.

Scent was important.

Wolves didn’t care about the colour of a flower, or the shape of its petals. 

It was all about the scent, and each of the plants she carried brought its own with it.

The grave was overgrown, and Ruby knelt to pull loose some of the weeds and the grass that were growing ragged over it. She brushed her fingertips along the name carved on the stone. It wasn’t his name. She didn’t even know his real name. 

“A friend of yours?” Belle asked quietly.

Ruby laid the small bouquet in her hands at the base of the stone. “You could say that,” she said. “We only met once in the old world, but he helped me to find myself.” She looked at Belle. “He was Sheriff here, but he died. Not long ago, but before the curse broke.” She smiled sadly. “I never got a chance to thank him.”

“I’m sure he knew,” Belle said softly, touching her shoulder.

Ruby nodded, sitting back on her heels. “He was my pack-brother,” she said softly. “He was the only other wolf I ever knew, and who ever knew me.”

“He sounds like a good man. Wolf. Both.”

Ruby nodded, her eyes pricking with tears. “I just wish I’d had the chance to tell him that.”

Belle squeezed her shoulder. “Tell him,” she said softly. “Tell him what you would if you could. Maybe it’ll be enough?”

Ruby looked up at her, then nodded. She took a shaking breath, then threw back her head and howled.


End file.
